Taking waste heat further than ever

Cemento PANAM in the Dominican Republic is a new cement plant that prides itself on its green credentials. Situated about an hour from Santo Domingo in San Pedro De Macoris province, the plant is capable of producing 1 million tpy of cement (750 000 tpy of clinker) and is designed to achieve particulate emissions five times lower than the country’s regulatory limit at 30 mg/m³.

With the environment in mind, the plant was keen to discover if it could reduce its fossil fuel use by utilising waste heat from the clinker cooler to dry materials in the finish mills. At the time, the vertical roller mills were employing a hot gas generator to heat up/dry off the materials in the mill. And although natural gas is relatively clean, it is still a fossil fuel – and an expensive one at that.

Making use of waste heat

Like so many plants, waste heat from Cemento PANAM’s cooler is typically released into the atmosphere. The possibility of turning this waste into a valuable resource was an idea that fit well with the plant’s focus on sustainability and would also significantly reduce costs. However, this was not without its challenges.

“We contacted FLSmidth because we had seen that this is something they have a lot of experience with and we wanted to know if it could work for us,” explains Arnoldo Alonso, Plant Manager, Cemento PANAM “We had faith in the technology, but doubts about the practicality of the system given that the finish mill is 300 m away from the cooler. How do you transfer heat over such a distance?”

This was the furthest distance FLSmidth had ever tried to take waste heat – perhaps the furthest that any cement company has attempted. The concern, of course, was that the heat would be lost as it travelled down to the finish mills, rendering it relatively useless by the time it arrived. In order to make it work, FLSmidth had to bring in its modelling experts.

Enjoyed what you've read so far? Finish the article and access the entire December issue of World Cement by registering, free of charge, here.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/special-reports/19122022/taking-waste-heat-further-than-ever/